Daily News

Pro-Family Demonstrations Draw Throngs Throughout Europe (5491)

But you wouldn’t know it, given the scant media coverage.

Sign carried during a rally organized by the pro-marriage La Manif Pour Tous organization on May 26, 2013 in Paris. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the rally.

– Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images

ROME — Following large pro-family protests on Feb. 2, the French government announced the following day that it would postpone a proposed bill that threatened to legalize assisted procreation for lesbian couples and surrogate motherhood for homosexual men who wanted children.

The development came after large rallies were held in Paris and Lyon in support of marriage and the traditional family on Sunday, as well as similar protests in Brussels, Bucharest, Madrid, Warsaw and Rome .

The protests were led and inspired by La Manif Pour Tous (Protest for Everyone), a rapidly growing French group of associations that launched in January 2013 with a massive rally in Paris against same-sex “marriage” legislation. Despite the outcry, France passed the legislation.

Police said 80,000 people took to the streets of the French capital on Feb. 2, although La Manif Pour Tous put the figure much higher, closer to half a million. At least 20,000 are reported to have marched in Lyon.

The French protesters were marching against a raft of policies being pushed through by President Francois Hollande. Since imposing same-sex “marriage” on the French last year, the current government has been promoting legislation in favor of medically assisted procreation techniques for lesbian couples, in vitro fertilization, a further relaxation of abortion laws and an experimental school program aimed at “combating gender stereotypes.”

Interior Minister Manuel Valls warned that “no excesses” would be tolerated during the marches and ordered a heavy security presence, although the protests — primarily made up of families with young children in strollers — mostly proceeded peacefully.

Jean-Pierre Delaume-Myard, spokesman for La Manif Pour Tous, who is also same-sex attracted, told Vatican Radio on Jan. 31 that children are the “first victims” of same-sex “marriage.”

“It deprives them of a father and a mother,” he said. “The desire to have a child by a homosexual cannot justify any kind of solution to fill this gap. Every child has the right to have a father and a mother.”

Delaume-Myard said the legislation to redefine marriage — known as the “Taubira law” — was imposed on the French people by repressing public opposition (the European Court of Human Rights is currently investigating the charge). He argued that the “majority of homosexuals had never asked for such a thing,” and the proof is that “civil unions” have existed in France for years and yet only 4% of homosexuals have ever opted for them. “So homosexuals have never asked for gay marriage, let alone children,” he said.

Medically assisted procreation and surrogate pregnancies, he added, are “even worse,” as they regard women and children as commodities.

Elsewhere in Europe

Beyond France, the protesters were marching on Sunday against the Lunacek Report on equality, with regards to sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe. The report calls for a new European Union “road map to combat ‘homophobia’” and demands that special rights for homosexual persons should now be considered human rights. It also calls on the European Commission to promote “equality and nondiscrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity throughout its youth and education programs.”

La Manif Pour Tous Italy held a rally of its own on Feb. 2 in solidarity with its French counterpart. Coincidentally, it took place on the same day as Italy’s Day for Life. During his Feb. 2 Angelus address, Pope Francis sent his greetings and encouragement to those committed to the defense of life from its conception to its natural end.

The Rome rally was principally a demonstration against the Lunacek Report and other similar legislative efforts currently on the statute books in Italy. La Manif Pour Tous Italy’s director, Jacopo Coghe, said the protest was “to affirm that we will not be instruments of violence and destruction.”

“We will defend the family, paying in person, if necessary,” he said, adding that it filled him with pride and courage to see so many young people and families present. “This is the only possible future for Italy and France.”

“The family is being targeted in the European Parliament, where laws that do not take into account the reality [of the traditional family] are being approved,” he continued. “So I would like to tell MEPs [members of the European Parliament] in a loud voice that Italy also defends the family and marriage between a man and a woman and strongly rejects the Lunacek plan.”

He added, in regards to the actions undertaken by the French chapter of the pro-family group: “We Italians, also moved by your example and by your courage, are mobilizing to defend these values. We continue to support each other in this line of defense, because only the union between a man and a woman can form a stable construct that is the family, the place par excellence of solidarity and acceptance.”

Fielding Candidates

La Manif Pour Tous, which argues that marriage between a man and a woman is a “civil and anthropological value” that goes “beyond different cultural and religious positions,” hopes to field candidates in upcoming municipal and European elections.

Together with the latest qualified victory in France, this shows how far the movement has come in just 12 months. Given the burgeoning support across the continent, it promises to advance considerably in the years ahead.

Comments

God bless France!.. their Catholic roots have not drowned! I too am same-sex attracted too.But I know the solution to my problem would hardly be to say my mother was a father or my father a mother. Who in all of humanity could believe it. ANd as an elementary teacher for over 30 years I have taught a group of IVF children—all of them were empty emotionally seeking the other parent. They acted helpless. ANd all of this just to ‘feed’ a stingly lesbian, when the fact is there are line ups of married loving parents who are dying to adopt. The UN better get it straight!.. we’ve just begun!... hell will freeze over when we Catholics stand back and allow our children to be at best undernourished by same-sex couples. la Manif pour tous!, coming soon to NOrth America!

Posted by Joseph on Saturday, Feb 8, 2014 4:56 AM (EDT):

The Lunacek Report was passed by the EU Parliament, in spite of it being opposed by the majority of Europeans. On the positive side however, the resolution is not binding on individual EU members. It is up to the individual countries now to adopt it or reject it.
Hungary, for example, will reject it for sure. The Hungarians recently passed their new “Easter Constitution” (an update to the 1100-year old Constitution written by King St. Stephen, the founder of Catholic Hungary), and marriage in the new Constitution is explicitly defined as being between one man and one woman. Obviously in the time of King St. Stephen, sodomy and gay “marriage” never even came up - except perhaps in sermons about how had God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
The bureaucrats in Brussels are trying to impose their will, but the people are fighting back. It is now up to the citizens of each EU member state to defeat Brussels’ agenda.
And once again, there’s only so far that Brussels can go, trying to meddle with member countries’ internal affairs. Enough is enough, countries will reject Brussels’ dictatorship, and they will consider pulling out of the EU if necessary.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Friday, Feb 7, 2014 2:40 PM (EDT):

@lisakaiser: “Science”? Science—ethology—has some very trenchant remarks about what is or is not “mating”, and what does or does not qualify as “sexual intercourse”. Science is not interested in your legal fictions.
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Science—anthropology—also says that homosexual relationships have historically been valued mainly by cultures with a very low status accorded to women, e.g. Greece, China, or else as a part of the psychological subjugation of male slaves, e.g. Turkey, pre-Christian Scandinavia, possibly the Aztecs (who executed people for homosexual relations between freemen). The Maya valued homosexual relationships, only in the decadent Postclassic period, as a way for their young noblemen to sexually abuse servants without producing potential competitors for inheritance. No culture has ever much valued lesbianism (the Aztecs garrotted lesbians); many have barely acknowledged the concept. Science is not interested in your Ahnenerbe mythology.
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Shall we even discuss what science—epidemiology—says about homosexuality? Science is not interested in your public-relations campaigns.

Posted by Bill S on Friday, Feb 7, 2014 7:28 AM (EDT):

“For the umpteenth time, persons with same sex attractions are not hated and shamed in our Church, and you know this! We promote the dignity of the human person, recognizing that all are imperfect sinners, including myself.”

You might be a sinner and I might be one too. But you are not a sinner for going to bed with your husband. Nor am I for going to bed with my wife. And neither are they.

Posted by EileenG on Thursday, Feb 6, 2014 10:02 AM (EDT):

lisakaiser - You and other liberals are the ones obsessed with ‘pelvic politics’. The very term is offensive and crude, which is the way with ‘femen’ and other radical feminists. And keep talking about pedophile priests, as if there are no other persons in the world today who are, or have been, sexually abusing children. How about the biggest threat to children today - abuse by the boyfriends of their mothers? Our increasing numbers of single mothers who are effectively married to the government through welfare and easily-enabled, stigma-free single motherhood, are inadvertently leaving their children defenseless and vulnerable, and indirectly hurt our whole society. Whenever possible, children should be conceived, gestated and raised by their natural parents, and while this is not always possible, it is clearly the best situation for society, a form of ballast that keeps the ship of state and society even-keeled and heading straight and true, (to make a nautical reference!)
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I agree with you that war, poverty and environmental disaster is wrong and that we should all work together to promote peace, justice and responsible stewardship of our created world, which is clearly the focus of Catholic thought and resolve. For the umpteenth time, persons with same sex attractions are not hated and shamed in our Church, and you know this! We promote the dignity of the human person, recognizing that all are imperfect sinners, including myself. However, read the other testimonies from posters here who are same- sex attracted and oppose the move to redefine marriage and family away from the good, true and beautiful plan God has created for humanity. They say it all sincerely.

Posted by Bill S on Thursday, Feb 6, 2014 9:57 AM (EDT):

“President Putin too!.”

Wow. I don’t know what happened to you, but if you can’t see two men or two women committing themselves to one another in marriage, while being gay yourself, you’ve really lost your perspective on life and happiness.

Posted by lisakaiser on Wednesday, Feb 5, 2014 4:05 PM (EDT):

EileenG,

There is no gay “agenda”. There is a human agenda—the agenda we all have as a human beings. And that agenda is to be treated with dignity and respect. To be accorded full and equal rights in our home nations. to be free from discrimination.

Gay people and marriage equality pose no danger to civilization. we need to concentrate on what does pose real and imminent danger to our world, our nations, our planet: war,failure to be responsible stewards of our planet (as someone said, there is no Planet B), economic inequality, greed.

The obsession of the RCC and the American GOP with pelvic politics is merely a way to distract people from the truly important issues: world peace, taking care of our earth, making certain that there is economic justice for all (no child or no adult should starve to death as a result of political corruption, greed, or for any reason). The RCC has focused on pelvic politics because it seeks to try to maintain some control over people and pelvic politics appeals to the lowest common denominator, because the RCC is trying to regain the the “moral authority” it has clearly lost of its epic, knowing and deliberate failure to protect children from pedophile priests.

When the RCC spends as much time, money effort for world peace as it has in hating gay people, then I will pay to attention to what the RCC has to say. Until then, the RCC continue to lose credibility in its efforts to defend indefensible prejudice.

Posted by EileenG on Wednesday, Feb 5, 2014 8:55 AM (EDT):

What wonderful ‘signs and wonders’ from our God, that resistance to the appalling spread of the ‘gay agenda’ is coming from France, of all places! A reason for our hope…

Posted by Julie on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 8:42 PM (EDT):

I would also like to thank you for publishing this information as I have not read of this protest anywhere else. The liberal propaganda from the liberal mainstream media is frightening. I have forwarded this article to friends and family.

Posted by Br. Robert Anthony on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 6:59 PM (EDT):

God is NOT dead! He is alive, and he’s on the move!!! Praise God!

Posted by Terah James on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 6:52 PM (EDT):

In the USA, I have noticed that the mainstream media is showing a bit of shift, at least nationally. Last night, a Christian talk show host mentioned having watched the Seattle Seahawks for the past few months, saying that even their locker-room is somehow different, and that there is more of a sense of integrity among the players.

Also, the mainstream media (Yahoo news, I think) reported about the Bronco’s quarterback, Peyton Manning, having great “character”, even after the huge loss, by taking the time to call a fellow player, to inquire about an ankle injury, and he even stopped to give an autograph to a 25 year old beverage salesman, who asked him for one. The news used the word: character. Also in the news was how the Broncos had helped with a Coat Drive, to assist people in their community.

Between the above and the abortion rate being down in the USA, for the first time in years, perhaps God-honoring values will be brought to the forefront once again here.

I think it is of utmost importance for everyone: Catholic and non-Catholic Christians alike, to join hands and to get along, for the glory of God, drawing attention to values that will change our culture for the better, in obedience to His word. We need to concentrate on things like the Apostles Creed/the Nicene Creed, matters of doctrine about which we all agree, and hold dear, and that we know are true, from God’s word.

We need to leave by the wayside anything that divides, and that is not that important - and stop using the divisive term “Separated Brethern”. We are one Body of Christ, and to be effective for our culture, we need to join hands, in unity, turning to Jesus for help, and to the Holy Spirit, for guidance, so that the Father will hear and answer our collective prayer. We may be seeing a turn, even here in the USA. We can only continue to speak the truth, in love, and stay connected to each other. Thank you, for this news report about the march.

Posted by Joseph on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 5:00 PM (EDT):

Things are getting really bad in Europe. This Lunacek Report, which drew public protests, is a really scary attempt to outlaw and punish those who would speak for common sense and decency - including parents teaching their children about sexual morals, in the privacy of their homes.
Before the Lunacek Report, there was another attempt called the Estrella Report, but that was defeated by public outcry. So, now, those behind this agenda have re-packaged the Estrella Report as the Lunacek Report, and they are trying to pass it again. If it passes, parents will no longer be safe to teach their children and it’s pretty likely that our shepherds (Bishops, Priests) will be legally prosecuted and punished for teaching Catholic sexual ethics, even before the haters go after the parents.
I really wonder where the French Muslims are on this, but I hope they will become allies to the Catholic Church. Kind of like when Pope John Paul II spoke out against population control and contraception at the UN in Egypt, and nobody defended him from the “Christian” West, however the Muslim countries’ representatives spoke out in defense of our Pope.
If people were marching against the Lunacek Report in Europe this Sunday, at least that means that they are aware what’s at stake and they are trying to protect freedom in Europe.
Among certain EU members, there’s buyers’ remorse and serious talk about leaving the EU. Pretty interesting how, while Ukraine is trying to join, others are already calling for getting out of EU membership.

Posted by Jacqueline Lynch on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 4:30 PM (EDT):

Notice that these MAJOR changes in law are imposed by elites from the European Parliament. It is top down rule, not something people want or are even asked about. Watch out, America! Beware United Nations treaties that trump the Constitution. And of course, beware the Federal government and the government-media complex.

Posted by Ashley on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 4:07 PM (EDT):

Amen and amen to this report.

Posted by lisakaiser on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 4:01 PM (EDT):

Bravo to Scotland which has just legalized same-sex marriage! The forces of justice, equality, love, logic, science, morality continue to triumph over the forces of hate, bigotry, lies, ignorance.

Posted by paul on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 1:37 PM (EDT):

I too am same self-attracted and find the gay movement an abomination. Typical of the times we live in : “I”, not the children. Gays have gained many rights and freedoms but that have not learnt to be moral.. if the general population knew the lewd practices, the loneliness, the diseases, the drug and alcohol abuses and ‘fun’ on the web, in bath houses and dark rooms!,, would they dare not oppose it as a norm for society? Looks like the Europeans have come out of the wood work!, are ahead of us,, President Putin too!.. kids too need mom and dad, and there is no replacement for them, especially same-sex partners. TO consider it realistically as marriage is so stupid it barely deserves debate… but seems that it does. God help us!, thank God for the Holy Catholic Church!

Posted by tom on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 1:14 PM (EDT):

May God bless the European families who participated in these worthy events and may God Almighty watch over all families through out the world, especially those in most need of His protection, guidance and benevolence. I don’t know anyone who condemns individual homosexuals or condones the physical or emotional abuse of any person based on their sexual orientation, but the radical militant and untruthful agenda of a few is going to end up having repercussions on many good, holy, and peaceful same sex attracted persons because people are being pushed to far by a dishonest media, politicians swayed by money, and judicial activism. I can tolerate domestic partnerships and gladly accept equality for all under the law, but this redefining of marriage and the barrage of indoctrination on our children by a failing educational system, which could use the money to teach the poor to read, write and capable of arithmetic, is very discouraging. I believe in loving the sinner and hating the sin, but I can not tolerate calling what is good an evil and suggesting that what is evil is now to be considered a good. May the Natural Law created by our God Elohim prevail, which naturally (pun intended) it will! In the mean time lets hope we can all just get along without slandering, ridiculing and hating each other. God’s blessing to all and may we learn to abide by Truth once again.

Posted by Saber Walsh on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 12:19 PM (EDT):

Thank you for writing about this! We would otherwise not known about the good news that people around the world are tired of the kind of secular progressivism that has infected the leadership of Europe and America.
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The good news about this story and others like it is, for a long time people didn’t speak up because they just felt that none of this affected them. Well, this affects EVERYONE. And while the Holy Father calls for us to look past divisive issues and work with everybody to feed, house, and care for the poor, we see valuable assets that could probably solve the problem on a global basis being used to sway political leaders towards a very dark future.
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Enough… is… enough.
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Thanks again for writing this piece!

Posted by mrscracker on Tuesday, Feb 4, 2014 10:14 AM (EDT):

Thank you for publishing this. So far,I’ve only seen one other source reporting this news item.
When a couple women go topless to protest in Vatican Square, it’s front page news. 80,000 folks march in France-not newsworthy.Go figure.

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